1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to media systems and, more particularly, to media systems that support digital media.
2. Description of the Related Art
Media systems have permitted users to create playlists of audio tracks (i.e., songs) that are to be played. Typically, the media systems store a large library of audio tracks. Hence, the ability for a user to create their own playlists assists the user in playing those of the audio tracks from the library they prefer. Conventionally, playlists have been created either by a drag-and-drop operation or by user-specified rules. Once created, the audio tracks in the playlist can be successively played. After all the audio tracks in the playlist have been played, the playing of the playlist can be repeated. However, when requested or before repeating, the order in which the audio tracks are played can be altered, such as by a shuffle operation which randomly reorders the audio tracks within the playlist.
Unfortunately, there is no ability to use selection criteria when choosing a next audio track to be played from a source of a plurality of audio tracks. In the case of playlists, the audio tracks within a playlist are known in advance and played in accordance with their order. Thus, there is a need for improved techniques to play audio tracks in a more randomized fashion while considering selection criteria.